Pasuram 8.2.8

Tamil text and transliteration:

இடைஇல்லையான் வளர்த்தகிளிகாள் பூவைகள்காள்! குயில்காள்! மயில்காள்
உடையநம்மாமையும் சங்கும் நெஞ்சும் ஒன்றும் ஒழியஒட்டாது கொண்டான்
அடையும் வைகுந்தமும் பாற்கடலும் அஞ்சனவெற்பும் அவைநணிய
கடையறப்பாசங்கள் விட்டபின்னை அன்றி அவன்அவை காண்கொடானே.

iṭaiillaiyāṉ vaḷarttakiḷikāḷ pūvaikaḷkāḷ! kuyilkāḷ! mayilkāḷ
uṭaiyanammāmaiyum caṅkum neñcum oṉṟum oḻiyaoṭṭātu koṇṭāṉ
aṭaiyum vaikuntamum pāṟkaṭalum añcaṉaveṟpum avainaṇiya
kaṭaiyaṟappācaṅkaḷ viṭṭapiṉṉai aṉṟi avaṉavai kāṇkoṭāṉē.

English translation of verse 8.2.8:

Ye, parrots, peacocks, Koels, little Pūvai birds, my pets all,
There’s nothing more you can from me have, my possessions, one and all,
The Lord has from me snatched ‘tis, however, not difficult to attain hence
Vaikuntam, Milk-ocean, Mount Añcaṉam and other holy centres,
But these the Lord reveals not unless one sheds the last shred
Of attachment unto things in the domain outside.

Notes:

(i) The main theme of this decad being complete eschewal of, and total dissociation from all things ungodly, this is yet another topical stanza of the decad. (See also stanza 7)

(ii) The pets were reared up by the Nāyakī merely as ancillary to her God-enjoyment, by way of heightening the enjoyment and now, in her present state of separation from her beloved Lord, all these birds are of no avail and the Nāyakī doesn’t hesitate to sever her connection with these unwanted pets, in the same way as she stands apart from her mates and the elders who tempt her the wrong way. A doubt might, however, arise, at this stage, how these birds, which are said to denote the great preceptors (Ācāryas), as elucidated earlier, could at all be discarded notwithstanding their exalted position as the sure Guides to Heaven. As a matter of fact, in Saint Rāmānuja’s swan-song, ‘Śaraṇāgati gadya’, he specifically includes even the preceptors in the category of persons, dear and near, excluded by him, ‘Gurūn santyajya’. The idea behind this is that one’s parents, wife, sons, relations, friends and preceptor, loved and adored, as belonging to the Lord, have also to be eschewed, if they turned out to be inimical to God-enjoyment. Vide also aphorism 153 of ‘Ācārya Hṛdayam

(iii) The Lord having forsaken the Nāyakī after His erstwhile union with her, He has simultaneously deprived her of her fair complexion, bangles, mind and all, which He has taken with Him to the yonder Heaven, thinking that it is much beyond the Nāyakī’s reach. But the Nāyakī is well aware that the Heaven is not that remote and unattainable, being, as a matter of fact, the destined Land, the ultimate destination of every one, which the Supersensitive Lord shall, however, make available only when the earthly desires and sensual pleasures are given up in toto and one loves Him exclusively. Mount Añcaṉam, mentioned in this song, is Mount Tiruvēṅkaṭam. This holy centre and the Milk-ocean are held on a par with Heaven.